Leading with Learning

Recently while connecting with someone about my passion for human-centered leadership, I was introduced to the work of Max Yoder, co-founder of Lessonly and author of Do Better Work: Finding clarity, camaraderie, and progress in work and life. Like me, Yoder holds a philosophy of the importance of focusing on self-improvement and self-management as the keys to building better teams.

Random side note: I just learned that Yoder and I both grew up in Northern Indiana, graduating in the early 2000s from neighboring high schools.

In his book, Yoder introduces the notion that good leadership is learning what to do instead of knowing what to do. Removing the pressure to know it all or be it all allows us to bring our whole selves to work. We don’t have to shove down feelings or hide lack of knowledge/experience. And, in doing so, we make space for others’ whole selves to show up and shine. 

When we don’t bring our whole selves to work — for example when we pretend to know because we think we should — not only is there a personal cost in terms of the internal conflict of judgment and shame, but there’s the external cost of poor decisions, misalignment, or both. 

So, how can we lead with learning and bring our whole selves to work? Yoder outlines eight actions for leaders which I’ve summarized into my top 3 takeaways: 

1. Share before you’re ready. The intention here is to counter our tendency to take a task into our squirrel hole and emerge with a golden solution. Not only is this approach counter to the mentality to lead with learning, but is also inefficient since the golden solution rarely meets what’s needed. To share before you’re ready gives you the opportunity to collect early feedback on how the work is meeting expectations and allows you to ‘right-size’ the effort, determining how ‘good’ of a job really needs to be done.
   
   Sharing work early also models vulnerability to your team because, no matter your title or amount of experience, it’s scary to share half-baked work. On my team, I’d noticed that those newer in the profession had a tendency to perfect their work before sharing it with others, so I began to seek them out for feedback on things I was working on. This way I benefited from their unique perspective and directly modeled the behavior I wanted to see from them.

2. What’s working requires continuous maintenance. There’s a tendency to consider what’s going well as completed and things that aren’t going well as the to do’s to focus on. I’m painfully guilty of this, struggling to remember to celebrate team successes before focusing on improvements. However, ‘doing well’ isn’t a state of completion; it’s an ongoing activity that can’t be taken for granted. Reviewing what’s going well also gives us the best information about what strengths are available to leverage on the things that aren’t going well.
   
   Taking time to recognize and celebrate what’s working at the individual level also provides clear, tangible examples of success for the team. That’s why, when taking time to publicly recognize outstanding team members, as managers we took the time to get specific about what made them successful. The individuals got actionable feedback on what to keep doing and the rest of the team saw clear criteria to aim for, making success feel within reach.

3. Attention to detail during the calm prepares us for the storm. Taking a learning approach requires intentionality and, to a certain extent, slowing down. It requires asking clarifying questions to build true understanding. And sometimes that can feel like overkill. But it’s important to persist in building these muscles so we’re solid and set to thrive when faced with a crisis; we’re aiming for antifragility. As defined by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb, “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”
   
   This concept also applies at the relational level. The more we can adeptly navigate difficult conversations (admittedly high stress/pressure for most people), the stronger our relationships will grow. This requires us to slow down and observe what we feel and what we need, without evaluation or judgment. What we observe is critical information to be shared with others, and when viewed as such, will help a relationship flourish.

Leading with learning really boils down to releasing your assumptions and unleashing your pure curiosity. And, like all good things, it requires continual maintenance.